Be positive towards India-US n deal, Congress tells BJP

Ahmedabad, Oct 3(IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party should adopt a positive attitude towards the India-US civilian nuclear deal now that it has received the nod of the US Senate, said Gujarat Pradesh Congress chief Siddharth Patel here Friday.Patel told mediapersons that the deal came about due to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s determination and commitment.

“Those who are saying it impinges on the country’s sovereignty are telling lies. This deal is totally a civilian nuclear deal and does not impact the eight nuclear reactors in the country which are for defence purpose,” said Patel.

On the Nanavati Commission report on 2002 Godhra train fire and subsequent Gujarat riots, Patel said there are several inconsistencies in the report that are crying for clarification.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said the nuclear deal was worth $100 billion.

He said the deal will generate 100,000 employment opportunities and add 5,000 mw of additional electricity.

He added the country today produces 130,000 MW of electricity and of this only three per cent happens to be by nuclear process because of shortage of uranium.

The nuclear pact is a constitutional agreement between two sovereign nations and there is no question of Hyde Act being applied to the 123 agreement, he said.

Gohil said that Modi is tom-toming that Gujcoc (Gujarat Control of Organised Crime) will solve the terrorism problem. He said interestingly, there is not one word referring to terrorist or terrorism in the second bill that was passed .

All this came about when in June 2004 Modi bulldozed the bill after throwing the entire opposition in the assembly, he said.